


You couldn't stay gone, could you?

by SquipBlip



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: AU where Squips are run by an actual company and it isnt shady, Angst, Bisexual Jeremy Heere, Fluff and Angst, Gay Michael Mell, I know but I wanted to try it, I'll try to make this as logical as possible, M/M, Male pronouns for the squip, Past Brainwashing, Post-Squip, Squip redemption, This is my first fic don't hurt me, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, boyf riends - Freeform, but Squips are still rare, only because I need it for it to fit in with the story, the squip comes back
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-02-06 15:36:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12820632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquipBlip/pseuds/SquipBlip
Summary: Jeremy Heere assumed that the Squip was long gone.Jeremy Heere was very, very wrong.Now the Squip is back, and he seems to want to give redemption a go, assuming Michael doesn't find out and get the wrong idea.





	1. Return from the abyss

It had been almost half a year since the "incident". Yes, that's what people were calling it. Not that Jeremy cared, much. He much rathered that they called it "The Incident" than "That-one-time-that-Jeremy-Heere-almost-destroyed-the-world". 

Jeremy had tried to act like everything was fine, but he still kept a bottle of Mountain Dew Red hidden in the drawer of his desk, just for reassurance. Yeah, he knew that it was dumb and pointless, and that if the Squip was still here, it would tell him that he was being pathetic. Jeremy absent-mindedly ran his thumb over the burn marks on his wrist. They twisted and looped around and inside themselves like vines, climbing their way up his wrist, stopping just below his palm. He sighed and heaved himself sluggishly from his swivel chair and lazily plopped down onto his mattress, which gave a dissatisfying squeak. 

He flopped around like a fish out of water, trying to position himself on his back. Eventually, Jeremy found himself staring at the ceiling. He sighed again and reached for his phone, which had been tossed onto his nightstand without care. He almost dropped it when he saw the time.

3:22 A.M.

His eyes widened under the blinding light, how the hell had he managed to stay awake this long? He hastily slammed his phone back on the nightstand and turned on his side, closing his eyes. He almost immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Jeremy found himself alone in an empty desert. All that was around him was endless sand and rocks. It looked hot, although Jeremy couldn't feel anything. It was almost… peaceful. No, it was peaceful. The sky was a beautiful blue that stretched as far as the eye could see, with soft, puffy clouds dotting the sea of blue. Jeremy gently sat down and watched his surroundings, smiling as a breeze gently ruffled his hair. He closed his eyes, relaxing in the sun. 

Suddenly, a loud roaring split the silence. Jeremy lurched upwards into a standing position. His eyes widened as a massive tornado came thundering into view. He desperately looked around for anything for him to hide under. There was nothing, only sand. Jeremy threw himself on the ground, covering head with his hands. He repressed the urge to scream as the tornado came closer and closer in a screaming fit of rage, before going right over him. The pain was almost unbearable. Wait… what? Pain? In a dream?

Jeremy snapped himself awake, still shaking slightly. His head burned fiercely, as if someone had split his skull. Jeremy whimpered, holding his head in his hands, hoping the pain would let up. It began to grow, steadily increasing from a burning to a screaming throbbing. Tears began to leak out of Jeremy’s eyes as he moaned loudly. Just when he thought he wouldn’t be able to take any more of it, the pain stopped. Jeremy whimpered again, burrowing into a pile of blankets and pillows.

After a few minutes, Jeremy lifted his head again, looking around the pitch black room. He frowned, knowing that what had just happened couldn’t have been good, or normal.  
He planned to call Michael the next morning. He closed his eyes and drifted into dreamland, take 2.

_____

 

"Jeremy. Wake up."

Jeremy groaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His dreams had been pretty good, until the last bit had woken him up. It had been the Squip randomly appearing. He turned his head, popping his neck, before being stopped by a chilling voice that was all too familiar.

"Don’t crack your joints. It will damage them."

Jeremy snapped his head towards the mentally generated image of a man standing by his window. The man bore an emotionless expression as he seemed to lean against the wall.

“N-no. This is a dream. Y-you can’t be back!” Jeremy gasped, crawling backwards in his bed. He reached up and grabbed his head, shaking it. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! Wake up!” He muttered to himself.

"Jerem-"

The squip started before Jeremy cut him off.

“No! I-I drank the Mountain Dew! You died! I saw you.” Jeremy yelled, freezing as his back hit the wall. “Get out of my damn head.” He growled. The Squip sighed again.

"Jeremy. If you would just listen-"

“Yeah, because that worked so well the last time.” Jeremy sneered, trying to mask his terror. “Why are you back and when are you leaving?” He addressed the Squip as one would address an unwanted guest at one’s house.

"I don’t know!" The Squip raised it’s artificial voice. "All I know is that, since the play, I have been completely dormant. Frankly, I would be happy to go back to being dormant, however all of my data on the matter is completely wiped. All that I can currently access is something labeled 'S.Q.U.I.P Reactivation procedure'."

Jeremy stared at the Squip with a completely lost expression.

“So… You don’t know how to turn yourself off,” He asked slowly, then continued after receiving an exasperated nod from the Squip. “And there is some file that is about your reactivation?” There was another nod. “Well can you read me the file?” Jeremy asked.  
The Squip froze, before a robotic voice began to speak.

_Welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor, or “Squip” for short. You have previously deactivated your Squip. While we do not know why, we encourage you giving your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor a second chance. We have updated all of our systems, for optimal performance. If you are interested in learned of your Squip’s newest functions, simply say to your Squip “Updated Functions File, Open”. If you find your Squip’s operations unsatisfactory a second time, simply say to your Squip “Enter: Shutdown mode”. This will completely shut your Squip down, and it will detach itself from your brain, and begin to deteriorate. Thank you and we hope you enjoy your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor in its new and improved state. ___

__The Squip went back to it’s normal state, blinking confusedly._ _

__“So… You fucking Updated?” Jeremy inquired slowly._ _

__It would appear that you are correct. The Squip answered, looking around the room. He turned back to Jeremy as he heard a small wheeze. Jeremy was laughing._ _

__"Please, this is not funny."_ _

__Jeremy wheezed again and the small giggles soon manifested themselves into a full chortle.  
“So, you mean to tell me that you just needed Windows 10?” He gasped through his laughter. The Squip gave an expression full of complete “I’m-so-done.”_ _

__"Ugh, do not insult me like that. I am a supercomputer, I ten times that of an awful computer program." The Squip attempted to announce proudly, only to be silenced by Jeremy’s loud laughter._ _

__Jeremy wiped a tear from his eye, before standing up.  
“Okay, Windows 10, I’m going back to sleep. Tomorrow we’re figuring this shit out.” Jeremy said seriously, straightening his bedspread before laying back down, still giggling slightly._ _


	2. Ground Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I forgot to mention this, but this is in an AU where Squips are very rare, however, rather than a shady underground dealer from Japan, Squips are made by an actual company. I'll elaborate on this soon!

Jeremy cracked an eye and looked at his clock. 12:37. 

I slept that late?! Shit I have school.

Jeremy began to panic, leaping from his bed to his closet door.

"Jeremy. It’s a Saturday. You don’t have school". The Squip announced, materializing into the form of the Keanu Reeves lookalike that had once haunted his every waking thought.  
Jeremy turned away from his closet door to the back wall, where his Pac-Man calendar than Michael had bought him was hanging on the wall. It was Saturday. He frowned and turned back to the image of the man, who was “leaning” against the wall with his arms crossed.  
“Alright, since you’re definitely back, we’re going to set some rules. One, you won’t tell me what to do unless I ask for your assistance, got it?” Jeremy growled, crossing his arms and puffing his chest out. The Squip swallowed and nodded softly. Jeremy had definitely benefitted from his previous work, if his newfound confrontational skills were anything to go of of. 

“Second, if you try to separate me from _any _of my friends, I will deactivate your ass so quickly, you’ll turn into a cloud of binary text, capisce?” Jeremy said in a voice that was too calm. His eyes glistened with anger, his jaw was set forward, and his lips were forced into a perfect line. The Squip uncrossed his arms and took a step back.__

__“Now, uh, what was it.. uh, Open update file?” Jeremy asked, losing his threatening demeanor. The Squip arched an eyebrow._ _

__“I believe you mean ‘Updated Functions File, Open.’” He suggested in a cool voice. Jeremy nodded once, then repeated The Squip. There was not any immediate reaction, however, after a few moments, The Squip changed from his usual blue coloring to a softer, less electric green color._ _

___The lastest updated functions on your Squip include, but are not limited to, Newly developed emotions, such as Anger, Fear, Happiness, and Sadness. They also include the ability to access different technological objects nearby to communicate with others, and, the ability to hack into multiple technological objects to retrieve information on any number of subjects. ____ _

____The Squip shook his head as the green changed back to an electric blue color. He straightened his tie and regained his composure._ _ _ _

____"I must admit, the, ah, moodlights are rather different." The Squip said slowly, dusting off his sleeve. Jeremy turned to him with an arched eyebrow._ _ _ _

____"Wow, stop the presses, Squip just made a joke." He said sarcastically, running a his fingers through his almond locks in a nervous fashion. The Squip relaxed a little bit, looking at Jeremy with a softened gaze._ _ _ _

____"You're worried about Michael." The Squip muttered, in more of a statement than a question. Jeremy sighed deeply, closing his eyes and lowering himself into his swivel chair._ _ _ _

____"He's not going to like you being back, and who could blame him, but, uh, I'm willing to give you a chance, Michael may not." Jeremy sighed reluctantly, slowly turning side to side in the chair. The Squip was intrigued, he had previously assumed that Jeremy and Michael had renewed their relationship with each other, however, Jeremy's actions seemed to suggest that the weren't as close as he had previously thought. Although, Jeremy and Christine's situation may be a different story._ _ _ _

____"Perhaps Christine would be more understanding?" He inquired, only to be shot down by Jeremy's bored expression._ _ _ _

____"She goes to another school now. Her parents knew that something weird went down, so they moved her to this Girls Only school across town. It wouldn't matter, even if she did understand." Jeremy sighed again, "Things got really awkward between us too, I don't think she liked going on a date much with me, or anyone she's dated, really."_ _ _ _

____The Squip looked down, taking a deep breath before talking._ _ _ _

____"So, you, ah, didn't benefit much from my previous attempts, I suppose."_ _ _ _

____Jeremy glanced at him, struck by how downcast he looked. "Hey, my confrontational skills benefitted, if nothing else." The Squip avoided his gaze, suddenly becoming very interested in the wood-grain on Jeremy's desk. Jeremy frowned and turned his gaze to the floor._ _ _ _

____"Look, I'm going to go get a slushie from 7/11, we'll talk more when I get back." Jeremy announced after a long, and somewhat awkward silence. He stood up, and the Squip materialized into a standing position in the doorway, following Jeremy out the door and down the pathway._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter done! Sorry for any typos, I don't have a beta or anything. I try to real through it, but stuff slips past me.Thanks for reading, and tell me how in was in the comments, I survive off of doritos, coffee, and comments. UwU
> 
> Also, thank you so much for 14 Kudos!!


	3. Sev-Elev

Jeremy shuffled into the 7-Eleven, The Squip close behind. Jeremy made a beeline for the slushie machine, grabbing a cup and filling it up with a random flavor. He didn’t know what flavor he had poured into his cup because he wasn’t paying attention. His attention was completely directed at the man behind the counter. The man’s eyes nervously darted around the small building, before coming to freeze on Jeremy.

“Jeremy, it would be in your best interest to leave,” The Squip warned, moving closer to the man. “He does not work here. He was in the process of theft when you entered. You need to leave now.” Jeremy ignored him and moved to the back, looking for some chips.

At this point, there were numerous aspects of the situation that Jeremy didn’t notice. For example, Jeremy did not notice the man slowly walking out from behind the counter. He didn’t notice the man drawing a small handgun from his jeans. He ignored the gradually increasing volume of The Squip’s warnings. The man slowly lifted the gun, bringing it up level with Jeremy’s head. Jeremy finally stopped ignoring the man, turning to see the barrel of the handgun pointing in between the eyes. He released a small shriek and stumbling backwards onto the cold tile of the 7-Eleven, desperately scrambling backwards. The man’s eyes widened through his skii mask. His hand began to shake slightly, the gun begging to quiver, his aim being thrown all over the small convenience store. Jeremy froze, listening for his Squip’s instruction.

 _Uhh, any chance you wanna, uh, get me outta this?_ Jeremy thought desperately, only to be met with a cold silence. The man in the skii mask growled before taking his finger off of the trigger and waving the gun at Jeremy.

“Shit, man. Why’d it have to be a kid,” The man muttered to no one in particular. He sighed, before gesturing to the door. “Take your slushie and get out.”

Jeremy scrambled to his feet, nodding his head as he inched towards the door. The man took a step towards him, lifting the gun again.

“Hey kid, if you tell _anyone_ , next time, you won’t be as lucky.” He shouted, as Jeremy nodded frantically and dashed out the door, clutching his slushie.

He found himself speed-walking down the sidewalk, looking over his shoulder. After about ten minutes, he stopped at a bus stop and took a seat on the bench, taking a moment to rest before a thought struck him. _Where was the Squip?_

He looked around for the supercomputer’s glitchy form, but found nothing. He stood up from the bench and spun around, looking in the trees or across the street for any sign of the Squip.

 _Uh, hello? Windows 10?_ He asked in his head. Nothing. There was nothing. A small feeling of nervousness washed over him. He took a deep breath and gave a breathy sigh.

“Squip? Are you,” He cleared his throat. “Are you there?” After a few seconds, he began to sigh again before he was silence by a cool voice in his head.

 _Your Squip is currently offline. If you would like for it to return to it’s online status, simply say, out loud, “Activate”. Thank you, and we hope you enjoy your Super Quantum Unit Intel_ _Processor_.

Jeremy blinked in surprise. It was offline? He sighed and looked around. The street was completely deserted. Good, that meant that there was no one around the hear him talk to himself.

“Activate…?” He inquired slowly, drawing out I sound then clicking the T in confusion. There was a few seconds of silence before the pixelated image of a man appeared before him, screeching absolute gibberish in an alarmingly loud and high-pitched voice.

Jeremy found himself wildly looking around for anyone who had been awoken by the Squip’s painfully loud babbling, but quickly remembered that what he was hearing was all inside of his head. He looked back to the supercomputer, which was now looking at Jeremy with a cold glare.

“Um… Is something wrong?” Jeremy asked, raising his eyebrows in confusion. The Squip frowned and turned away, dematerializing in a cloud of pixels that quickly dissipated into the air.

Imaginary question marks floated above Jeremy’s head as he stared off into the empty space where the Squip had previously been. His rich chocolate eyes darted around in blatant confusion. He made a small humming sound and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Jeremy did a 180 and continued back down the street, occasionally taking shortcuts to avoid passing too close to the 7-Eleven.

After a short while of walking, he finally found himself back home. He slipped through a small hole in his fence, thinking back on the many times that he had found himself sneaking into his house, occasionally being accompanied by his best friend, Michael Mell.

A few years ago, Jeremy had been able to crawl through the hole without trouble, now he had to suck in his gut and squeeze himself through. He winced in pain as the splintering pickets jabbed into his shoulder. Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief as he finally made it all the way through the fence. He frowned and rubbed his shoulder, which was now bleeding slightly. He jumped as an bored voice sounded out next to him.

“You should clean that when you get inside.” The Squip sighed, picking at his cuticles. Jeremy frowned and placed his hands on his hips, hoping that he didn’t look too much like a teen girl who was about to comment on the Squip’s sense of style.

“Do you want to tell why you’re acting like an overdramatic panther with a toothache?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. The Squip looked him dead in the eye. Jeremy felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The Squip took a large step closer, never breaking eye contact. Jeremy’s warm, brown, melted-chocolate eyes held the uncannily blue of the Squip's.

“You want to know why,” The Squip marveled, more to himself than to Jeremy. Anger flared in his eyes as he resumed. “Let’s think on this for a moment. Maybe, I’ve found myself to be in such a foul mood because you decided to ignore me, which activated the Squip shutdown issue #1077, which is possibly one of the most painful experiences that a supercomputer can experience. Or, maybe, it’s because you,” The Squip jabbed a finger at Jeremy and scoffed. “You decided that it would be a wonderful idea to ignore me as I tried to warn you of something that could have possibly caused your _death_.”

Jeremy’s mouth was held slightly agape as the Squip finished. He attempted to form words but all that came out were that of a broken kazoo. The Squip frowned in disgust and turned away.

“Go sleep, we’ll discuss this in the morning. And clean that cut.” With that, he faded away in a cloud of pixels, leaving Jeremy standing alone in his backyard under the midnight sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, this chapter was an absolute pain in the tail to get out. I'm so so sorry that it took so long and I'm sorry that it's so short. ;-; You guys have been nothing but patient and kind and I love you all. Also, thank you for 50+ Kudos!! To me, that's a ton! It's so much more than I could have expected, so thank you. 
> 
> I'm going to try to get on schedule, so you'll hopefully have another chapter next week. Michael will also be introduced, rather than just briefly mentioned.
> 
> I think that's all, I hope you all had a good holiday season/new years!


	4. Chapter 4

_ Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! _

 

Jeremy groaned and shifted around in his bed, stuffing his head under his pillow. He blindly reached out to his alarm clock, finding it to be just out of reach. He growled and shifted back onto his side, this time rolling completely off the bed. He yelped and flailed wildly as he hit the ground. He stood up and kicked a sock out of the way, groggily stumbling over towards his desk, where he had left his phone. After multiple failed attempts to properly unlock his phone, he was finally able to stop the alarm. 

 

“Honestly Jeremy, you do this every day. How are you not used to waking up this early?” The Squip muttered, leaning against the door frame. Jeremy rubbed his tired eyes and stared up at the Squip like a deer in headlights. The Squip sighed obnoxiously and disappeared into a cloud of pixels. 

 

(Time skip. Jeremy is at school now.) 

 

Jeremy sauntered through the school hall. A few people glanced at him, but immediately  looked down, or turned back to what they were doing. He saw Jenna walking the opposite direction. There was a moment of eye contact, but she quickly looked away. 

 

It went on like this for the whole day, with the Squip periodically commenting on various aspects. Finally, the bell rang and Jeremy sluggishly walked to the lunch hall. He numbly grabbed a tray and got his food. He walked past numerous tables and finally got to one of the last tables in the room. He slid into a the seat across from Michael Mell, who had his head buried in his arms, his headphones completely blocking the outside world from entering the barrier of sound that he resided in. 

Jeremy reached across the tabled and layed a potato chip on his head.  

Michael jolted; Jeremy laughed as the chip fell from his head onto the floor, shattering into multiple pieces. Michael gave Jeremy a small grin and delicately lifted the headphones away and set the on the table. 

 

“Ah damn, what a waste of a good potato chip.” He gasped in a dramatic tone, closing his eyes and laying the back of his hand across his forehead. Jeremy shoved the bag towards him slowly.

 

“Want to share..?” He asked, giving a small smile. Wordlessly, Michael grabbed the bag and pretended to dump the contents in his mouth, then set it back down. Jeremy suddenly found himself -yet again- staring into Michael’s eyes. He noticed how they seemed to glow under the bright fluorescent lights of the cafeteria, causing his eyes to have a color akin to melted chocolate. Jeremy’s heart raced as Michael turned to meet his gaze. He quickly looked away, frowning deeply. 

 

_ What the hell was that? Why do I keep staring at him like that?  _ His thoughts ran through his mind as he tried to process the situation. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw the Squip standing against the wall as usual. 

 

“You like him, don’t you?” He asked with a raised glitchy eyebrow. 

 

_ Well of course I do, he’s my best friend. _ Jeremy thought back, with a confused expression.

 

“No; I mean you _ like _ him. Honestly Jeremy could you be anymore oblivious to your own emotions?” The Squip sassed him, an amused look on his face.

 

“No I don’t!” Jeremy shouted, crossing his arms across his chest.

 

“You don’t what?” Michael asked with a mildly concerned expression, placing his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. Jeremy’s eyes trailed down to Michael’s hand, then turned back to the table.

 

“N-nothing. It’s nothing.” He growled, shrugging Michael’s hand off of his shoulder. Michael frowned, furrowing his brow.

 

“Alright, well, if you need anything, I’m here.” He murmured gently.

 

“‘Kay.” Jeremy said flatly.

  
  


(Point of View change. It’s Michael now.)

 

Michael sighed with concern, running his fingers through his hair. He hadn’t seen Jeremy all day, and now Jeremy seemed mad at him for something. It kind of hurt a bit, if Michael had to be honest. Well, not just a bit; it hurt a lot. Sometimes the only thing that got Michael out of bed in the morning was knowing that He’d be able to see Jeremy. Jeremy’s thick brown hair, his piercing sapphire-blue eyes, his sarcastic personality that never failed to lighten his mood. Hell, if he had to be completely honest, he might even go as far as to say that he liked Jeremy in a less-friendly more-relationship way, but he knew that Jeremy wasn’t gay. Jeremy has never been gay in all of the years that he’s known him. In fact, Jeremy has never even seemed remotely interested in anyone other than Christine. 

 

He sighed again and took a potato chip. He turned it in his hand thoughtfully. 

 

After the whole Squip thing, he hadn’t been quite as close to Jeremy as he used to be. He rarely ever found himself playing video games with him anymore. Apocalypse of the Damned was still on level 9, as it had been for almost 8 months now.

 

He glanced up at Jeremy again, noticing him staring off into space with an intense look on his face. He had seen that look on his face before, that expression of being elsewhere in his thoughts. It had only been this strong when he still had his Squip… No. No, there’s no way. They had destroyed it with the Mountain Dew Red. It’s gone now, from everyone. Michael frowned and looked back down at his headphones. He had bought them a few years ago, and it seemed to show. There were small scratch marks and your general wear and tear on the edges. 

 

He jolted back in his seat as the bell rang; His eyes shot up to meet Jeremy’s. He gave him a quick smile and stood up, grabbing his backpack. It still had the -now slightly faded- “Riends” that had been written on. It hadn’t been that long, but it still felt like forever since Rich had shoved him up against the wall and written it there. He had made his best effort to scrub it off, as it providing ill reminders of “the incident”. It also didn’t help to allow Michael to forget how he felt about Jeremy. 

 

He pulled it over his shoulder and walked down the hall to his next class, shaking off the rest of his thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh I'm sosososososososososososoSO sorry about the long wait! But heres the next chapter!


End file.
